


invitation to the dance

by macha



Series: Georgia on My Mind [15]
Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-28
Updated: 2008-12-28
Packaged: 2017-10-18 11:48:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/188598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/macha/pseuds/macha





	invitation to the dance

__

### A03.10.03 Ad Astra Era:  
in the hunt, the dance.

and the name of the tale is:

Invitation to the dance

You haven't done this in a while. is that a costume?

maybe. maybe it's really me.

lucky for you you don't get chilly. what happens when the mask comes off?

depends.

on what?

whether i'm hungry.

you didn't have to throw a party this size.

oh, but i did. you're too young to remember the plague masques, but i do. and this, after all, is NovoVenetia. And when in Venice...

can't be named after ours.

more like the prototype.

you're up to something.

darling, of course i am. are you surprised?

i have a feeling this something isn't something Buffy might approve.

in the broadest sense, she has. but i wouldn't want her to get bogged down in detail about my methods of achieving common goals.

lucky for you she doesn't like to micromanage.

aren't you dressed yet? i'm really not sure that gown is going to suit you.

it better, after all the trouble it takes to pour me into it. how am i supposed to breathe in this thing?

my dear, that's never been a problem for Dru and i.

yeah, well i'm only human. mostly, at least. so, hold my breath throughout, then? right. how do i look?

astonishing. you'd take my breath away, if i had any.

and sitting down? that's off the menu too, i guess?

trust me, your dance card will be full before you've been there five minutes. you'll have no time to sit.

not even gonna ask how to pee.

how did the ballroom lessons go?

do Dru's feet actually touch the floor? i've always wondered. she's declared me passable, just barely. tell me again why it has to be me?

we can't send Buffy in. he knows her too well, so the mask wouldn't help. and she might finish the job she started, prematurely. but we know he's attracted to slayers. and i doubt he's ever thought of you like this.

he's not gonna like sniff me, is he?

he's much too civilized for that, my dear.

and that's pretty much why i'm terrified. cause being civilized, not my best thing.

look in the mirror. you see? a different person. go be that person for awhile. relax and enjoy your evening.

easy for you to say. couldn't you have done this better?

did you know Dru and i once spent a lovely night with The Immortal once?

this kind of evening, you mean, or something more like my idea of a party?

a bit of both, perhaps.

irresistible, was he? i know that cat with cream look. both of you, huh? why aren't you going in instead of me?

he knows us too well. so he'd be suspicious of our intentions.

and rightly so, huh? so um since we're there, maybe i'd better ask you how the hell one gets out of this lovely dress in a hurry.

well, on the dancefloor, or the balcony, one generally doesn't.

straight up, then? check. this gonna be an issue? maybe i'd better rearrange the weaponry.

perhaps the petticoat pockets would be less inconspicuous, just in case.

huh. never spotted those on the way in. so, this kind of thing come up much in the olden days?

well, not so much in the best of circles, but some. artists' bars, demimonde cotillions, that kind of thing. and plague balls, of course, courted disaster. the tarantelle, now, there was a dance of death.

i've mastered that one. explains a lot, in fact. i've even got a few moves of my own i'd like to try.

spoken like a slayer born. Charlotte Corday was a slayer assassin. they say he's never quite got over her second death.

Buffy and Dawn briefed me on that one. i feel like a black widow spider.

perfect. and listen. just stay in character, see where it goes.

you've got the antidote?

enough for one.

doesn't this movie end with a firing squad or something?

only if you're doing the firing, milady. you're beautiful. now go and play.


End file.
